How to Import Your Wallpaper Engine Library to Mac

Wallpaper Engine isn't available on macOS, but you can run your existing library natively on a Mac using Vivid Walls and its free Windows Companion. The Companion scans your Steam library and transfers scenes to your Mac over your local network: no cloud, no account, no video conversion. This guide walks through the full setup. For the rendering internals, see the technical guide.

What you need before you start

• A Mac running macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later
• A Windows PC with Wallpaper Engine installed and your library set up in Steam
• Both computers on the same local network (home Wi-Fi or Ethernet, either works)
• Vivid Walls installed from the Mac App Store ($9.99, one-time)
• The Vivid Walls Companion, a free Windows app downloaded from vividwalls.app

Step by step

Step 1: Install and launch the Companion on your PC

Download the Companion installer from vividwalls.app and run it. When Windows Firewall prompts you, click Allow access. The Companion needs local network connections to talk to your Mac. Without that permission, the two computers can't find each other.

Once the Companion is running, it scans your common Steam library folders automatically. After a few seconds you'll see "Found X wallpapers" and a 4-character pairing code. That code is how your Mac confirms it's connecting to the right machine.

If the count shows zero, your Wallpaper Engine library might be on a non-default drive. Click Browse... and navigate to your wallpaper_engine folder. It's usually at SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\wallpaper_engine. Point it at the right folder and the count updates immediately.

Step 2: Open Vivid Walls on your Mac

Launch Vivid Walls from Spotlight or your Applications folder.

Press Cmd+Shift+P to open the Import from PC wizard. You can also find it in the File menu under "Import from PC." This is the same wizard you'll use any time you want to pull more wallpapers from your Windows machine later.

Step 3: Connect to your PC

Your Mac uses Bonjour to discover the Companion on your local network. If both machines are connected and the Companion is running, your PC should appear in the list within a few seconds. Click Connect.

If nothing appears after about 30 seconds, jump to the troubleshooting section below. The most common cause is that the two computers are on different network segments.

Step 4: Enter the 4-character code

Type the 4-character code shown in the Companion window. This is a one-time handshake that confirms you're pairing with the right PC (useful if you're on a shared network and don't want to accidentally connect to a neighbor's machine). You do this once per import session; subsequent sessions generate a new code.

Step 5: Choose what to import

Once connected, Vivid Walls shows your complete Wallpaper Engine library from the PC: thumbnails, names, everything. Click Import All to grab everything, or scroll through and cherry-pick if you want to start with a subset.

When you've made your selection, click Import.

Step 6: Wait for the transfer

Transfer speed depends on your network and library size. Wallpapers appear in your Vivid Walls library as they arrive, so you can start browsing before everything finishes. Leave the Companion running on your PC until the transfer completes.

Step 7: Apply a wallpaper

Click any wallpaper in your library to select it. The right-side inspector shows per-scene controls: Fill Mode (how the scene scales to your display), Volume, Speed, and Opacity. These settings are saved per-wallpaper, so you can tune each one independently and they'll persist across reboots.

Click Apply to Desktop and the scene starts rendering on your desktop. That's it. Your library is running natively on your Mac.

Troubleshooting

My Mac doesn't see the Companion

First, confirm both computers are on the same network segment. This can be an issue on mesh routers where 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands are treated as separate subnets, or when client isolation is enabled. The Companion uses Bonjour (local multicast), which doesn't cross subnet boundaries. Connecting both machines by Ethernet to the same switch usually resolves it immediately.

Also check that the Companion is still active on your PC. If it's no longer showing the pairing code, relaunch it to start a fresh session.

The Companion says no wallpapers found

Click Browse... and point the Companion at your wallpaper_engine folder manually. The typical path is [Steam library drive]\steamapps\common\wallpaper_engine. If you've moved your Steam library to an external drive or installed it outside the default Program Files location, you'll need to navigate there. Once you select the correct folder it rescans automatically.

A specific wallpaper doesn't render correctly

Vivid Walls handles the vast majority of Wallpaper Engine scenes correctly, but a small percentage use shader constructs or SceneScript features that aren't fully supported yet. If you hit one, open a support ticket or email support@vividwalls.app with the Steam Workshop link for that wallpaper. These get patched in subsequent releases and the turnaround is usually fast.

What you get once it's running

Every scene you transferred is rendering for real, not playing back a video loop. Per-scene settings (volume, speed, fill mode, opacity) save individually and persist across reboots. Vivid Walls can also drop to 15 FPS or pause entirely when your Mac is on battery — toggle it on in Settings → Performance. You now have access to 400,000+ Workshop wallpapers on your Mac, running the way their creators intended.

If you want to add more wallpapers from your PC later, just launch the Companion again and repeat the steps. The pairing code is fresh each session.

Install Vivid Walls on the Mac App Store →

Questions or issues? Reach us at support@vividwalls.app. We read every message.